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by PeterHaleforAlpha



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: 5x25 was a Trouble, 5x26 was a Trouble, Duke didn't die, Multi, Nathan's POV, William returns, the real/grown-up James Cogan returns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 11:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6903523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeterHaleforAlpha/pseuds/PeterHaleforAlpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan is just walking down the steps at the armory, letting Audrey go and save the town, when James - his son - suddenly appears and claims that this all is just a Trouble and that Nathan needs to wake up.<br/>Suddenly he is in a world where Croatoan is dead, the Troubles still active and William has returned!</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaelsMiscellany](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaelsMiscellany/gifts).



> So, I worked long and hard on this and I still have the feeling that it kind of miss the prompt ... so here I'm hoping that you still enjoy it, no matter what :)

Nathan knew it was the right thing. Letting Audrey go, letting her save the whole town was the right thing to do. This time Nathan wouldn’t screw it up. This time he would respect Audrey’s wishes. This time he would love her enough to let her do this.

This didn’t make it easier. Every step away from the old armory felt heavier. With every motion of his legs he wanted to turn around, run back to her and beg her not to leave him. With every passing second he tried to find _another_ way out of this. Maybe there was still a chance that Audrey didn’t have to go. His brain worked on high speed and the only result he got was Audrey’s face as an image in his head, smiling at him.

At the bottom of the stairs Nathan turned around, looked back one last time and prepared himself to lose her forever. There was no going back from this. And Nathan would stand here and do nothing because it was the right thing to do.

Letting Audrey go was the most loving thing he could possibly do and Nathan would live with the consequences, would live with the awful loss and would try to move on.

He would do it for Audrey.

There was nothing that would change his mind. He needed to sit tight and let Audrey make this sacrifice. It was what she could do, what she wanted to do and Nathan loved her for that.

This time he wouldn’t interfere. Not again.

 

“Nathan!” A voice was carried by the wind. “You need to get her out of there.”

Nathan turned around and looked for the origin of this sound. The voice felt quite familiar but Nathan couldn’t remember where to put it. When Nathan recognized the person who was running towards him he took a deep breath. This was not possible.

“How-” Nathan started his question but the young man interrupted him, “Move! Get her out!”

Nathan just shook his head, not understanding any of this. How it was possible that _he_ was here or why he wanted him to go after Audrey. But it didn’t matter that James was here because right in this moment Nathan realized he couldn’t do it, not even for his son. “No, Audrey tries to safe Haven. I can’t interfere. I can’t ruin this.”

“You will lose her forever,” James argued.

“I know.” Nathan knew this. He knew what he was losing in this but he was willing to accept that. “But I can’t go after her.”

A frustrated expression slid over James’ face for a second then he took a deep breath. “Listen,” he said. “I know you want to respect her, let her safe the town, but this here is not real. This is nothing but a Trouble.” James stared at him sternly. “Think about it.”

Nathan stopped for a second, considered these words. A Trouble was always a possibility in Haven. But this was real, Nathan knew it. He felt every stab into the heart as further he got from that armory. He felt the loss of Audrey already in his bones and this couldn’t just be a Trouble. _This_ was real.

So Nathan shook his head again, vehemently as if he could wish James away like this, make him stop saying these words. This had been so hard to do, letting Audrey go, somehow Nathan didn’t want to cheapen that, didn’t want to ruin her sacrifice in believing this could be a Trouble.

“How are you here?” he changed the topic instead. Concentrating on James seemed like the logical thing to do. Audrey would have time to do what she had to in order to safe the town. It was a good distraction for Nathan to sit tight. Maybe this was the whole reason why he saw James. He was his inner voice, the tempting voice who still wanted to go after Audrey and stop her, who just couldn’t let her go. But Nathan had to be stronger than this. He promised her. He promised himself not to do anything.

“It’s a Trouble which creates your biggest nightmare. This whole world is just your imagination,” James went on and ignored Nathan’s question completely. “We need you out in the real world. Audrey needs you. Duke needs you.”

Nathan’s head jerked up at this name. He couldn’t feel the lump in his throat but it was definitely there because talking was hard, “He is dead.”

James shook his head, came closer and grabbed Nathan’s arm, rolling his sleeve up. “What was your worst nightmare since you got this tattoo?”

Nathan looked down at it, at the symbol of the Guard. So many times he thought about removing it, about getting rid of it because he didn’t want to be on the list anymore. Since the day he got it, he was afraid. Almost only a day after he wished he hadn’t done it in the first place. He didn’t want to be on the list of people who could cause Duke’s death. And with every day more this ink remained on his skin Nathan was scared that it would be him in the end. That there was some twisted situation that would force him to kill Duke. And so it happened. He had to kill Duke, in order to help him protect this town.

“And after you lost Audrey over and over again, what was your worst fear?”

“To lose her again,” Nathan whispered to himself. After everything they had been through they deserved to be together, to spend their lives together but after so many times Nathan lost her he had this crippling fear that it would happen again and that he couldn’t do anything about it. That he just had to let her go with the certainty to never see her again.

“It’s a Trouble,” James repeated. “It creates a world with your worst nightmares.”

This didn’t proof anything at all. They needed to defeat Croatoan and if Nathan lost everything on the way this was just horrible fate. His worst nightmares were losing his friends and he lost them both but they were necessary sacrifices.

“You have to fight your fears and you will wake up again. Go after Audrey, stop her from leaving. This should work.”

Nathan looked back at the armory, considered the possibilities. If this really was just a Trouble Nathan shouldn’t hesitate but he was afraid that James here was just his imagination and that Nathan would ruin it all. That he would damn this town to a horrible ending. He couldn’t do this, not again.

“I can’t. She is trying to safe this town.” Nathan couldn’t take this from her; he couldn’t hold their happiness above everyone else’s.

“She is, yes, but in the real world and she needs your help. We all do, so please, fight _it_.”

Nathan was still not sure what to do. He wanted to believe James, he wanted it badly but he was afraid of ruining everything. But then on the other hand if there was only the tiniest truth in his words that meant that Audrey was still with him, that he didn’t kill Duke, that he was still _alive_. And if there was a chance that these two people, the most important people in Nathan’s life, were still with him, he had to take it. He didn’t have the luxury to think about the consequences. If there was a chance to save both Duke and Audrey, Nathan needed to do something.

“Please, _Dad_.” James’ voice sounded like the one of a little child now, vulnerable and scared. “Mom needs you.”

And this was the last push Nathan needed. His feet started moving and he ran the steps up, rushed into the armory and met a confused Audrey, as well as Croatoan and Vince.

“What are you doing here, Nathan?” Audrey exclaimed.

“I’m not letting you go,” Nathan answered with a strong voice and reached for her wrist. “Not again,” he said and grabbed her hand, entwined their fingers. “Never again,” he promised and everything around him started to spin.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

Nathan woke up with a startle, jumped up at once and scanned his surroundings immediately. He was in their office at the police station, lying on the couch, or sitting now. James came into vision a second later. “What happened?” Nathan was completely confused as he could remember everything but according to James that hadn’t been real. So what was?

It looked the same around here. The office seemed abandoned as did the whole police station when Nathan checked and looked through the window into the bullpen.

“You were out for over a day,” James started to explain. “We brought you here because we couldn’t have someone watching you the whole time while we tried to figure out what was wrong with you. We thought Laverne could look after you this way and call us if necessary.”

As if she wanted to say hello the lights flickered right in this moment. Nathan nodded absently, not really smarter than before, more like more confused than ever.

“So it was a Trouble? Everything?” Nathan couldn’t remember when this Trouble was supposed to have started. Nothing felt wrong, out of place. It was one straight line of memory.

“What do you remember?” James took a chair and sat in front of Nathan and then it hit him right in this moment. What was his son doing here? He was dead. Nathan had seen him dying. And even if he wasn’t and the Barn saved him somehow he still had been in there when it exploded. He should be stuck in the void or somewhere else. Nathan still didn’t understand much about these things and how they worked. But he knew that it should be impossible for James to be here.

First Nathan thought it was all in his imagination, it was a Trouble after all but if James was here now, this meant it was still not real and he was still trapped in some kind of Trouble.

“Nathan?” The worry in James’ voice felt real though.

“How are you here?” Maybe there was a simple explanation for this.

Instead of giving an answer James asked a new question, “You don’t remember?”

“No, I don’t remember you coming to town which shouldn’t be possible. Even if you came through a Thinny there is no open one in Haven and the town is still surrounded by a giant wall of fog.” Nathan eyed James suspiciously. Maybe this world was real but James in front of him wasn’t. Maybe it wasn’t even James at all.

“Okay, maybe it’s just the confusion about this Trouble, about what really happened and what didn’t.”

“So what did really happen?” Nathan looked around in search for his gun. He just wanted to be prepared for any possibility. It was highly suspicious that Nathan woke up from his dream with only James around who he had no memory of coming back to town. This could easily be a trap or still be not real and Nathan wouldn’t take chances.

“The wall is down, Nathan. William took it down to get into town and I followed him. I followed him out of the void to get anywhere else at all but I didn’t expect to get back home to my world. Neither did he because William is really pissed that he landed-”

“Okay, okay, stop. William?” Nathan gave him his ring. He gave him the ring as a thank you so that he could return home. Why was he here now? More and more Nathan was convinced that this here right now was the Trouble and not the other world he just _escaped_ from. “Where is Audrey?” He needed someone he could trust, not that he didn’t trust James. He was family but right now with Croatoan around Nathan had to be careful.

“She is out, trying to keep this town together.” James shifted on his chair, straightened up a bit. “Okay, listen, I can imagine that this must be confusing if you really don’t remember much and you might think that this is not real? But believe me, it is. And we need to bring you back on track because we _need_ you.”

Nathan nodded. “Okay.” If there was only a slight chance that this was real and that William was back that meant that they had two enemies now and Nathan needed to focus. “Where are we standing? What needs to be done?” Nathan got up because sitting made him impatient. Also he needed his gun. Against Croatoan _and_ William he needed to be prepared.

“Right now we should wait for Audrey to return. She will have the newest updates.”

As if Audrey had heard him the door smashed open and she rushed inside, immediately falling into Nathan’s arms. “Nathan,” she whispered relieved and pulled him down to her. “Laverne sent a message that you are finally awake.”

Like a reflex a smile formed on Nathan’s lips and he pulled her even a little closer. “I’m okay, promise.” Now that Audrey was here and could explain everything he was great actually. Just holding her in his arms calmed him down immensely. It let everything seem so easy when she was next to him.

“Ah, I see sleeping beauty is finally awake.”

Nathan froze at this voice. Slowly he moved his head, looked over to the door where it came from and saw Duke leaning casually against the doorframe with a big smug smile on his face. He loosened his grip around Audrey without actually realizing it, his gaze fixed on Duke. If he still had some doubts if this world was real or not, it was clear now. This was! Even if it wasn’t, Nathan _wanted_ it to be.

With two quick steps he stood right in front of Duke and he lunged forward, slung his arms around him, crashed almost completely into him. Probably Duke was totally surprised. He lost his balance and almost fall over but could catch himself in the last second. Nathan only clung harder to him when he swung back.

“Whoa, Nate, I still need my bones,” Duke joked with a little laugh.

Nathan loosened his grip a little but still held onto Duke. He was here. He was alive. Nathan was afraid if he let go that Duke would just disappear, like a nice dream that faded into nothingness after you woke up.

“You’re okay, buddy?” Duke’s voice was quiet, so quiet that Nathan could be sure that no one else in this room had even noticed that Duke had said something at all.

Nathan nodded. “Yeah,” he croaked with a broken voice. He cleared his throat and gave it another shot, “I’m good.” The words felt stronger now, more in control and Nathan was grateful for that.

“Okay, good.”

Nathan heard a noise as if someone had patted him on the back and he was sure Duke wanted to signalize that Nathan could let go now. Unwillingly he pulled away but stayed right next to him. Nathan needed to see him, to hear him, and to smell his familiar scent right now. So he could be sure that Duke was still there, still with him.

Audrey must have noticed something, that he wouldn’t move, and stepped right next to Nathan on his other side, took his hand in hers.

 

After several minutes of explanations, from all three of them, Nathan was completely officially confused. “So Croatoan is dead?” This was probably the most important thing of all the stuff they just told him.

“You really don’t remember?” Audrey sat next to him on the couch, sliding her hand over his arm, and sounded worried. Nathan appreciated the gesture, enjoyed the proximity of her. Duke half sat and half leaned on Audrey’s desk. Nathan made sure that he had an eye on him the entire time.

“It’s fuzzy. I have the feeling I _should_ know but it’s confusing when I think about the stuff that happened during the Trouble. It felt so real.” His look over to Duke got more intense; his heart jumped at the memory what happened in this dream world. He was thankful that it wasn’t real though. That Croatoan was dead sounded a lot better than that his best friend was.

Duke shrugged, returned the eye contact with the same serious look. “Maybe it will come back to you. Maybe the memory of the Trouble will fade away and then it will get clearer to you.”

“Maybe,” Nathan agreed. “Hopefully,” he added. He would love to forget what had happened there. Forgetting sounded like a blessing. Forget how much Duke had struggled in his tight grip, how he desperately wanted to escape, how Nathan just held on because he had done it for Duke. Just forget how Nathan felt a part of his heart broke when Duke went limb in his arms.

Nathan would gladly forget all about that.

Audrey squeezed his hand but didn’t ask. She just was there and this was enough. This was just what Nathan needed. Maybe later they could talk, maybe later he would have the strength to tell them but right now where he still wasn’t sure which world was real now, it was too hard.

Duke as well remained silent, just furrowed his brow, maybe trying to guess what Nathan had experienced in his nightmare. As his stare got more intense Nathan looked away, remembering Duke’s body on the table, his motionless dead corpse.

He clung to Audrey’s hand, squeezed it probably too tight but she didn’t complain, just ran her thumb soothingly over his hand. Nathan tried to focus on the here and now, on the things they told him, on the round up what had happened but it all came back and every image in his mind was more painful than the one before.

“I need some fresh air,” he mumbled before he stormed out of the room, through the bullpen and out of the back door. Outside he took a deep and long breath. Slowly he released it, closed his eyes in the meantime. And he repeated the procedure. After five times he felt a little better, a little safer. He leaned on the handrail, wished he could feel the cold metal against his fingers. It would make it easier to believe that this was real, that this was no imagination, no false hope after he would get pulled back into the hard and painful reality.  

He needed to believe that _this_ world was real because he knew he wouldn’t be able to survive without the other one. Duke was dead, Audrey was gone. They left him and he was all alone, would be for the rest of his life.

This world needed to be true otherwise Nathan was lost.

 

Nathan startled when the door behind him opened. He had expected Audrey, or Duke even, but not James. Without a word he positioned himself next to Nathan, and remained totally silent.

“What do you want?” Nathan asked after some time. “Tell me again that this world wasn’t real? I know that.”

James stayed quiet for a little longer before he started to talk, “I used a Trouble to get into your head. Audrey was desperate to get you back and we didn’t know if you could wake up on your own, if you would be strong enough when you are trapped in this illusion. She _needed_ you back.”

“Why you?” Nathan didn’t know how James felt about him but he didn’t miss that he only called him ‘Nathan’, there was no hint that James acknowledged him as his father.

“Duke was immune and Duke and I agreed that we couldn’t let Audrey go. So I was the only one left.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said suddenly. It occurred to him that he hadn’t said it by now and James had probably saved him. Without James Nathan would still stuck in this nightmare. “Thank you for taking this risk.” Troubles were always tied to a certain risk.

James smiled slightly. “We needed you back.”

“I’m just one person.” Nathan understood that Audrey needed him back desperately. He would have done the same to save her from this awful dream world but Nathan didn’t get why James always talked about ‘we’.

“Since I came back to this town I watched. I watched Audrey, I watched you, even Duke. And I saw how they look at you. Audrey and Duke both love you. You are so important. But don’t think only to them, Nathan. The people in this town look at you the same way. They count on you. They believe in you. They need you to survive this.”

It was still hard to wrap his head around it. Croatoan was dead but they failed at destroying the Troubles. There was still chaos in town, people who were losing hope, and now William was back, apparently with a supply of aether. He could do anything with that.

“They look up to you,” James added.

Nathan didn’t know what to say to that so he only smiled at James.

“So shall we go back inside?” James asked with a smirk. “They are worried about you.”

“You didn’t tell them?” If James had been in his head he should know what Nathan saw, what Nathan had been through.

“It’s not my place to tell them.”

“Thank you,” Nathan repeated. He still didn’t know what James thought about him but Nathan couldn’t be more proud that this man was his son.

 

Audrey was all over him when he stepped back into the office, hands all over his arm and back, asking if he was okay. Duke kept his distance but there was clear worry in his eyes. James excused himself and closed the door behind him.

“I’m sorry,” Nathan said at first. “Didn’t mean to storm out like that.”

“It’s okay, Nathan,” Audrey assured him immediately. “We can only imagine what you have been through. And not remembering makes it probably even worse.”

“If I could remember what actually happened it would certainly be a lot easier to forget what happened in _there_. It was,” Nathan stopped and looked over to Duke again. He was too far away for Nathan’s taste. There was too much space between them. “It was bad,” he finished, not moving though.

Audrey took his hand. “You don’t need to tell us.”

“Duke?” Nathan couldn’t talk about it right now, so he would take Audrey’s offer for now.

Duke seemed surprised that he was part of the conversation out of a sudden but he shifted, focused his attention on Nathan. “Yeah?”

Nathan wanted to ask if Duke could stay close today. He _needed_ him around, right next to him, as near as possible. To forget about what happened, to remind him that _this_ was real and that Duke was whole and healthy.

“Nate?” Duke came a step closer.

Nathan looked him right in the eye, wanted to ask him but he was not sure if it was fair to Duke, to force him to stay close only because Nathan was scared to lose him again.

Duke took another step closer and Nathan noticed how he shared a quick glance with Audrey.

Both seemed more worried with every minute and this was definitely not what Nathan had intended. They needed to focus. They needed to concentrate on the problem they were facing. They shouldn’t get distracted. They shouldn’t worry more about him than about everyone else.

And if he would say out loud what he wanted they would definitely worry even more. So Nathan kept quiet or he didn’t say what he meant to ask. “I just wanted to know what our next step is.”

Duke furrowed his brow, clearly not believing him, but he nodded anyway and Nathan was glad that he left it with that. “There is a town meeting in an hour. They will all be glad to see you again.”

“Good!” This was probably the best thing to do, concentrate on what was going on and help people. It would distract him from all the awful memories.

“You think you’re up to that?” Audrey asked concerned. “Dwight and the others will understand if you want to miss this one.”

“No, it’s exactly what I need.” Maybe Nathan was even lucky and his memory started to work again when he got out there.

“Okay, then let’s do this.” Audrey smiled and squeezed his hand. “Together!”

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

The streets were still empty and abandoned as they used to be when Croatoan was around. The Troubles hadn’t stopped, were still there so this was no surprise at all. Still, Nathan had hoped when Croatoan was gone, at least some things would get better. That there was some hope left to work with. To build something new.

It didn’t look like it. Haven seemed worse than ever and it broke Nathan’s heart. The Troubles had destroyed everything and they still did. How should they survive this? How should they survive yet another attack of a cruel enemy?

“What is this town meeting about?” Nathan asked when he couldn’t stand the silence around him anymore. This town had been loud and happy once, now it was just quiet and hopeless.

“The people are scared. Croatoan might be dead, a big threat is gone but we failed to destroy the Troubles. They are still here.” Audrey sounded guilty as if she was the only one to blame for this. If one was to blame it would probably be Nathan because he interfered when Audrey had wanted to go the first time.

Nathan had damned this town in his fight to keep Audrey. He knew that and he would give everything to make it better.

“And not to forget William wandering around town,” Duke added with a grin. “I would love to just shoot him.”

Nathan stopped in his movement and looked at Audrey. “Is he still connected to you?” This would make everything a whole lot more complicated than it needed to be.

“We don’t know yet.”

“Do you know what he wants?” Nathan would never be William’s biggest fan but he had helped him when Nathan was stuck in the void. He could have killed him and he chose not to. He just let him go.

Nathan couldn’t believe that he would fall back into old patterns and wanted to kill everyone. There was a good side in him, Nathan had seen it, and although Nathan would never try to excuse the things William had done maybe they could talk to him first instead of fighting him directly.

“He is William. He doesn’t want anything good,” Duke commented dryly.

“Maybe we could try to talk to him?” Nathan asked unsurely. “Maybe he is-”

“We don’t talk to him.” Duke was suddenly right in front of him, made himself tall and intimidating, and then it faded away like he just noticed what he was doing. “We don’t talk to him,” he repeated quieter now and stepped away.  

Nathan looked confused at Duke, didn’t understand this outburst at all and was looking for an explanation. But it didn’t come, at least not from Duke. “You tried that,” Audrey said. “Didn’t go well. So I’m with Duke on this one. We don’t talk to William.”

“Okay, sure.” Nathan nodded. He trusted both Audrey and Duke with this. He couldn’t remember so he had to rely on his friends.

“Are you coming?” James shouted from a few meters ahead, half turning around.

“Yes, we are coming,” Audrey answered with a little smile on her face and Nathan wished he could remember. It made it still hard to believe that this was the reality when he couldn’t remember a thing that happened lately. Audrey seemed so used to James around and Nathan couldn’t even fathom the fact that he was here in Haven at all. Nathan really hoped that his memories would return.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

The town meeting took place in the auditorium of the school. It was big enough and the rest who didn’t fit in could gather in the hallways and watch over a screen. Besides it seemed fitting since they used it as a refuge when the darkness Trouble was around. It felt like home to a lot of people. It showed them what they had been through and what they survived. That they would be able to live on although it wasn’t perfect now.

A lot of people were already there when the small group arrived. Dwight was standing near the stage with Gloria and Vickie, and also a little girl by his side. Nathan never saw her before but he knew pictures of her and he hated to ask but he still needed to.

“How is Lizzie alive?” He leaned down and whispered in Audrey’s ears.

“It was a Trouble. Actually it was Croatoan,” Audrey whispered back. “He wanted to use her to manipulate him but she stayed after Croatoan was dead. And this is a really good thing.”

“Yeah, it is.” Nathan smiled. It was nice to see something good that came from the Troubles. This was a sign that good things did happen - after times of losing and sacrificing everything this was a very hopeful sign.

Dwight nodded at him when they approached, Gloria tapped him on the shoulder and Vickie full on fell into his arms which came a little unexpected. Not that he didn’t like Vickie but they had never been close.

“Sorry,” she apologized right after it. “I just - it’s good to see that you are back.”

Nathan smiled openly. “It’s okay,” he assured her.

Dwight nodded in the direction of the next corner, signalizing that he wanted to talk. Nathan followed, a little hesitant at first. “You’re okay?” he wanted to know.

Shortly Nathan looked back, searched for Audrey and Duke. They were here, they were close. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Good.” Dwight nodded. “We need to talk how to approach this today. It’s the first actual meeting we are having. We need to calm everyone down, show them that this life is possible but that we need to work together for that.”

“I say we are totally honest. No more secrets. We will tell them how the situation is and how we can make it work. Dwight, there is no other choice than to live with the Troubles now and we did for several years now. Of course the people had always the hope that they would vanish someday but we _lived_ with the Troubles. We can do this, we can survive this.”

“Have you changed your mind? Do _you_ want to talk on the stage?” Dwight asked with a little smile on his face. “You know they trust you. Better you than me.”

“They trust you too, Dwight, don’t forget that. You took charge when it was needed. They look up to you. You will be fine.” Nathan didn’t need to say that he _hated_ public speeches and he was actually pretty relieved that he didn’t have to go on this stage. Besides he still hadn’t a fucking clue what happened in the last few days so maybe he was not the best choice to put in front of all those people and pretend as if he knew what they had been through. “Was that it? You trying to persuade me to go up there?”

“Yeah, that was it. Thought it was worth a shot.” He shrugged and grinned.

“I will be right down here, no worries.” Right next to Audrey and Duke. “In the middle of the people. They will appreciate this as much as if I would stand up there.”

“Go back to Audrey.” Dwight pushed him in the direction of his family and Nathan didn’t need to hear this twice.

With a few long steps he was back with Audrey, and Duke, and James. He gave Audrey a quick kiss, smiled into it. He was so happy that she was still here, didn’t have to go. “We will get through this,” he promised in a hushed tone. “We will defeat William once more.”

“I have no doubt,” Audrey responded, caressed his cheeks. “As long as we are together we can do anything.”

This sounded so sappy but Nathan had to agree. He had the feeling that he could do anything when Audrey was around, when Duke was standing next to him. Those two people were the most important ones in his life and he wouldn’t let anything happen to them. So Nathan nodded. “You, me, and Duke.”

“I take dips on shooting William in the face though.” Duke got closer and Nathan felt how it calmed him. The closer Duke was standing the calmer Nathan was feeling.

“As soon as we know that he is not connected to Audrey you can shoot him in the face,” Nathan said with a smile. Some time ago Nathan would have been concerned, hearing Duke talk about murder like that, afraid he would succumb to his family’s fate. Now there was no doubt how Duke meant it, how Duke was feeling. Exactly the same way Nathan did. He would gladly kill William if it meant that Audrey was safe from him. He just hoped that William was not connected to Audrey, that it would be easier this time around to get rid of him.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

It went better than Nathan thought it would. Dwight was a good speaker, a great leader and the people trusted him. They listened and considered the things he said without interrupting him all the time. They made progress.

Although the people were still afraid what the future might bring they were ready to try, to work together.

The fact that they could leave town now if they wanted to made things better. It seemed thought that most of the people wanted to stay. They knew that their Troubles wouldn’t disappear if they would leave. They would just take their curses somewhere else.

Most of them wanted to stay, at least it seemed like it, and this made Nathan proud. He always loved Haven, not only the town itself, but the people who lived in it. And it was great seeing them all working together, trying to find a way to live their lives.

It was a big conversation with people asking questions and Dwight trying to answer them, with the help of Audrey sometimes. It felt good to be open and honest about everything so that everybody could understand how this all happened and what it meant for them.

Of course they weren’t too happy when they got told that they had to live with their Troubles for their whole lives now but with every minute it got a little quieter in the room. Less whispering and less rambling between certain people.

That’s why you couldn’t miss the entrance of William. Dwight stopped talking and the whole room was spinning towards the door, wanting to know what made him stop.

Nathan stiffened the second he recognized William, a big smug smile on his face, clapping his hands.

“This was a wonderful speech,” he said with a loud voice so that everyone could understand him. “Really moving.”

Nathan jumped up from his seat and he saw Audrey and Duke doing the same. Dwight stayed calm, only asked, “What do you want here, William?”

“I have a preposition to make.” He spread his arms and walked closer to the stage. “This is an open town meeting, isn’t it?”

Only silence followed which William took probably as an invitation because he kept going, “I can help you, and make your lives easier. For all of you.”

Hushed voices started whispering again, agitation spread amongst the people.

“I am the person who gave you your Troubles, at least one of them. I understand them. I can fix them.”

“We know you can’t take them from us,” Dwight interfered.

William just shrugged. “But I can alter them. I can make them harmless; make them easier to live with. It’s easy.” He put his hand in his pocket and when he pulled it out again, his hand was black. Nathan knew what this meant. William had aether and he could do much more than this than alter Troubles. He could give new ones; he could make his personal aether bodyguards. Probably William was just lying. Why should he want to help them?

“We won’t trust you. We never will,” Nathan said, approaching him.

“And who are you speaking for all these people here, Nathan, huh?” William grinned devilishly. “If I recall right you are the reason the Troubles stayed in the first place. And your friend over there brought some new ones with him. You did this to this town and I only try to make it better. I can help them.”

More whispered voices got through to Nathan, it was hard to miss, and Nathan didn’t like this reaction at all. These people had no idea who William was, had no idea what he had done, and right now his offer had to sound too good to be true.

“He lies and manipulates. He was in town before, gave people new Troubles, and altered other ones. He doesn’t want to help. He just wants to serve himself.”

“So? What’s wrong with that? I help these people and I only demand two things for that. This is a low price if you consider how many lives I will save with this.” William tilted his head and grinned widely.

“What do you want?” Nathan growled and saw out of the corner of his eye how Duke walked over to him and stopped right behind him.

“Just the town, be in charge of it. I don’t expect of you to kiss my feet. I just want to be left alone, live my life. And the other thing,” William stopped for a moment and his gaze went to Audrey, “is her. I want Audrey.”

Nathan only saw a shadow rushing past him and out of reflex he reached for Duke. He grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Don’t,” he whispered. This was a delicate situation and they couldn’t just burst forward and beat the crap out of William. The whole town was watching them. “Just get her out of here.”

“Are you insane, Nate?” Duke whispered harshly. “He can’t just demand something like that and expect we don’t do anything about it.”

“It’s not the place.” The people trusted Nathan and Nathan wanted that it stayed this way. “Please, get her out of here. It’s not safe.” Nathan wasn’t sure if some of the people would actually consider these terms. It was only one life for all of theirs after all.

Duke seemed still not happy about this but he relaxed so Nathan let go of him. So he nodded and returned to Audrey. Nathan waited until Duke and Audrey exited the hall to the side door before he turned to face William again.

“We won’t give her to you.” Nathan tried to level his voice, to sound as neutral as possible. “Like we wouldn’t give you any other person of this town. You can’t be serious.”

“One life for all of them?” William spread his arms, pointing at the big group, and made a complete turn. “It seems this is a pretty fair offer.”

“How do we know that you can do what you are saying?” One loud voice from somewhere in the crowd asked.

“I can show you. I just need a volunteer.” He spun around again. “So who is willing to try it?”

“You won’t lay a hand on any of them,” Nathan shouted. How could he think that Nathan would allow this? After everything that William had done? They couldn’t trust him, not ever.

“Are you offering yourself, Nathan? I mean your Trouble is not really dangerous but I could make an exception. To show my good will. To show that I only want to help.”

The whole room was immediately looking at him. This was not what Nathan had planned. He didn’t like his Trouble but he wouldn’t let William change it because Nathan knew that he could not only change it to the better but also to the worse. There was a high risk coming with this and Nathan needed to persuade these people that William wasn’t here out of the warmth of his heart.

“So what are you saying, Nate?”

A whole different kind of anger washed over Nathan for William using this nickname. No one called him like this except Duke. “No way!”

“You say no? I can alter your Trouble. I can make you feel again. Like, let’s say, you don’t only feel pain. Touch, warmth, cold, no problem. Your sensation only fails if it comes to pain. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”

“And you can make it worse.” Nathan straightened up and turned around to the people, first to the one side and then to the other. He raised his voice a little more before saying, “I know this sounds promising. I know this sounds like a lifeline in these desperate times. Turning your Troubles in something harmless sounds wonderful. But we can’t trust this man. He never wanted anything good for this town. He just follows his own interests. And we don’t know what he will do to you exactly. He can make it even worse for you. Maybe you don’t notice at first because he twists your Troubles in a way that it won’t show at first. We can’t trust this man, not with anything, but especially not with your lives.”

The whole room went totally quiet for a change. There was no whispering, no rustling, just complete silence. “I know this sounds like my opinion alone and you are so many but believe me, I wouldn’t keep this opportunity from you if I wasn’t sure that it would be a mistake. I tried my whole life to protect this city, like my father did before me. I love this town, I love you all, and I don’t want to see you hurt even more. After everything we have been through, after everything we have survived, we can deal with the Troubles. It will be hard, it will be challenging but we shouldn’t make it even harder and trust this man to just take it away. William killed a lot of people the last time he was in town, he was the one who brought Mara to town, and she was the reason a lot of new Troubles spread among us. He is the beginning and I doubt that he grew a conscious and wants to be the end now.”

Nathan swallowed and took a deep breath. “He just wants revenge for killing Mara. These two people have played with our lives by giving us Troubles. We should stop them and take our lives in our own hands again.”

It was still quiet until William broke out into laughter. “You’re serious? Take your lives in your own hands again?” He shook his head. “I give you a chance of a _normal_ life. The one person, who brings me Audrey Parker, is the first who will be free from their curse.”

And suddenly there was movement. The first few people jumped up from their seats, whispering with one another. Nathan swore quietly and backed away in the direction of the stage. This didn’t play out as he would have liked to see. Out of nowhere James stood beside him. “We should go. Think about what to do next.”

“No, we need to calm them down. We need them to see sense.”

“Not many of them know mom personally. They have a _chance_ to live a normal life again. And they only have to sacrifice a stranger. What would you do?”

Not that! Certainly not that. At least Nathan hoped he would still refuse to help William. “We at least need to try. What else should we do?”

“Get Audrey out of town for a start,” James went on. “We can still come up with a plan as soon as she is safe.”

For Audrey to be safe sounded well but Nathan doubted that it would be this easy. Audrey would refuse to leave town. It was her home. She would never just leave Haven. And running wasn’t an answer anyway. Not when the problem stood right in front of Nathan.

William!

William was the problem. William who confused already scared people and made them dangerous. Who made them a threat. Innocent people who just wanted the suffering to end. This wasn’t fair. None of this was okay.

And Nathan had no idea how to fix this.

But running wasn’t the solution. Running would only make it worse. Nathan knew that, out of experience.

“Listen,” he raised his voice again, shouted over the noise but it seemed that only a few had heard him.

“What are you doing?” James asked incredulously. “They won’t listen!”

“I have to try.” Nathan pushed him away, made his way to the stage and took the microphone into his hand. At this moment he realized that Dwight hadn’t interfered at all. He was no longer on stage as well. Nathan found him with Gloria, Vickie and Lizzie, telling them something before he led them to the same door Audrey and Duke vanished through.

“Please listen,” Nathan repeated now with the support of the microphone. “Let me speak and then you can still make your choice. But first listen.”

Some of the townsfolk already turned around, others were still in heated discussions. Nathan just ignored that and started to talk, “Some of you know Audrey Parker. Some of you don’t. But I’m sure everyone has heard of her. She sacrificed so much to help this town, to help all of you. I know it’s easy to think about such a deal when the person who will get harmed has no big meaning to you. But what if it would be someone else? One of your parents? Your friend? Or even one of your kids? You would fight for them, right? You would live with your Trouble, how worse it may be, as long as they were safe!”

Meanwhile everyone had turned around to him. Even William seemed to listen with concentration. “Audrey Parker is this person to me. She is one of the most important people in my life and I would do anything to protect her. But I’m not standing up here for her sake. I’m standing here for you all.”

Nathan scanned the room, looked in all those hundred of faces. “Audrey came to town to help the Troubled. She had always helped the Troubled. She had never stopped. And she would be here now, sacrificing herself if she believed that this would help. But she knows William, as do I, and we both know this isn’t the answer to our problems. He is a threat to this town, nothing else.”

“But he is the only one who can help at all, right?” Someone in the middle shouted.

“Why shouldn’t we give it a shot?”

“He shall show us what he can do,” it came from another corner.

And William just stood in the middle of it all. Smiling.

James jumped onto the stage, covered the microphone so no one else would hear. “Time to go,” he demanded again. “Retreat and rethink.”

“No, they are just scared.”

“Yes, exactly. A bunch of scared people. They will tear you apart if it means that this will get them to Audrey and to their freedom.”

Nathan shook his head. “No, they are better than this.”

“Damn it, Nathan, you can’t win this right now. William has you cornered again. First he knocked you out with this nightmare Trouble and now he makes sure that you are no threat to him anymore. These people don’t listen to reason right now and they will get past anyone who wants to stop them. And this is you!”

“I can’t just leave them alone in this. This wouldn’t be right.”

James sighed frustrated. “Okay, what is your plan then? Repeat the same words over and over again? They are clearly not working. They will kill you if they need to.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do!” James said, eyes locked with Nathan’s. “I never thought that it would be possible for me to come back. But here I am. And I won’t watch these people kill you right after that.”

“James.” Nathan didn’t know what to say to this.

“Just come with me. Let us meet up with Duke and Audrey and think about everything.” James waited for a moment for any kind of reaction but then continued, “I know you want them right next to you. I saw what you have seen in your nightmare. I noticed how you looked at Duke afterwards. You need to be sure that he is okay. Both of them.” James grabbed his wrist. “So just let us go to them.”

Nathan still hesitated. He wanted to go back to Duke and Audrey. He wanted to make sure that they were okay but he trusted Duke to bring Audrey to safety. And maybe he could still do something here, still could persuade someone that William wasn’t offering help but would destroy this town at the first chance he got.

“You can’t help them here. You can’t protect them from here. You can’t help them if you are dead, Nathan.”

Finally Nathan nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”

The crowd was still loudly arguing so they didn’t even notice when they left. William on the other hand followed every step they took with his eyes but he just smiled at them, waved them even goodbye.

Nathan hated this guy.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

They met at one of Dave’s and Vince’s old houses. No one would assume them to be there, at least they hoped so. Audrey fell directly in Nathan’s arms. “How bad is it?”

“Really bad,” Dwight answered who came along with Lizzie, and Gloria and Vickie as well. “A lot of them really want to take William’s offer and the few who doesn’t are probably too scared to say something. I will go back and try to find the ones who are on our side.”

“Good idea,” Duke steeped forward. “I will come with you. I think I know the people you don’t and maybe we can convince most of them - with a lot of luck.”

Nathan didn’t plan to but his hand reacted on his own, reached for Duke and grabbed his upper arm. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, of course. We need to contain this somehow. We can’t fight the entire town.”

Nathan hated to watch Duke leave again, especially with William in town, and with all the people who wanted to get to Audrey and knew that Duke was a very good friend of hers. And who saw him leave with Audrey. He would be the first target in order to find out where Audrey was hiding.  

Duke patted on his blade bone. “I’ll be fine. Just keep Audrey safe.”

“Be careful,” Nathan said and looked Duke in the eye, probably a moment too long because Duke patted him again, as far as Nathan could see out of the corner of his eye. So he broke contact and let him go.

 

After Dwight and Duke had vanished Gloria took Vickie with the baby and Lizzie upstairs to distract Dwight’s daughter a little. James went outside with the excuse to look out for trouble so Nathan was alone with Audrey. He was grateful for some peace and quiet and sat down on the couch with her. He just held her in his arms in silence for a long while until Audrey began to talk.

“I thought about just offering myself to William so that no one gets harmed. He just wants me. No one has to get hurt for that.”

Nathan wanted to say how ridiculous this idea was but he kept quiet. He knew Audrey wouldn’t just rush head over heels in this. She would have taken her time to rate the options.

“If I was sure that everyone would be fine, that William would certainly help them, I wouldn’t hesitate but it’s William. He played us too many times by now.”

“We can’t trust him,” Nathan agreed and pulled her a little closer. “And we have to keep the people safe. All of them, if they are with us or against us. We have to keep them safe. We have to keep you safe.”

Audrey smiled. “And Duke.”

Nathan didn’t even try to hide his concern, just nodded. “And Duke.” Absently he looked down on his tattoo, lost himself in this memory again, and wished he could just forget it.

“When all of this is over I will get rid of this tattoo,” he said quietly. “I never did because I thought it was impossible that it would be me in the end, that there would never be a situation where I could be that person.” Nathan took a deep breath. “Now I know that it is possible.”

“It was only a dream, Nathan,” Audrey said and tried to steady her voice but failed miserably. “Only a nightmare.”

“I won’t take the risk that this will ever happen again.”

“Oh, Nathan.” Audrey stretched to reach Nathan’s lips. A soft kiss was planted on his lips and Nathan relaxed a little under this soothing touch. “I’m sorry,” she whispered and he felt her warm breath against his skin. “He is okay.”

“I know but that doesn’t make the images disappear. I killed him and the worst part of this is, I know I would do it again in this exact situation and immediately regret it afterwards.”

“This situation won’t happen. It will never happen. We will make sure that nothing bad happens to Duke, okay?”

Nathan nodded, and rested his forehead against Audrey’s. “Okay.”

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

The next few days were like a nightmare all over again. The town had split itself in two fronts; one half was on Audrey’s side, the other on William’s. They just tried to hide Audrey from the ones who wanted to sell her out to William and tried at the same time to reason with them. It didn’t go as well as Nathan hoped and even if he hated to admit it but he was out of ideas. They couldn’t just change people’s minds. They couldn’t just force them to be good. But they couldn’t hurt them either. This wouldn’t be right.

Nathan didn’t know what they should do else to solve this whole mess.

“We need to do something,” Audrey said out of the blue. Nathan and Duke looked up at the exact same time. In the last few days all three of them stayed as close as possible to each other.

“And what?” Nathan asked.

“You know we tried the whole intervention thing,” Duke commented with a shrug. “Convincing people that they are wrong is the hardest thing to do, especially when they are sure that they are on the right side.”

“I’m not talking about convincing the town. I’m talking about that I need to face William.”

Nathan’s first instinct was to disagree, to tell Audrey how stupid this plan was but he remained silent. He thought about this too. They needed to do something and if they couldn’t convince the people they had to destroy the source.

“What do you have in mind exactly?” he asked instead. He trusted Audrey, he knew she was capable of so much; maybe she already had a great plan.

“We give him what he wants: Me!”

“Sounds like a terrible plan,” Duke threw in.

“It’s the only option we have.” Audrey shifted a little and laid a hand on Nathan’s thigh. “I can’t just watch the whole town tear itself apart only because I don’t want to face him. Mara is gone, I am only me now. There is no one he can lure out of me that I don’t want to be. I am stronger than him.”

Nathan caressed her hand. “We don’t doubt that, Parker.” He looked over to Duke, searched for affirmation and got a nod from him. “We are only worried about you.”

“I know.” Her other hand found Duke’s. “And I don’t intend to leave you two.”

A little smile flashed over Duke’s face, just for a second, but it was one of the most beautiful things that Nathan had seen in his life. “What is your plan?” Nathan asked.

“We will show him that he can’t force us out of our town. This is our home. This is our town. And he can’t just use the people who live here for his cruel mind games. We have to show the people that we stand on _their_ side and not on our own. They are important in this fight and no one else. Keeping this town together is important.”

“We show these people that William is not the only option,” Nathan kept going. “We show them that there is still hope.”

Audrey smiled. “Exactly.”

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

They waited on the main road, just walking down the street so that no one could miss them. It was an invitation for William to come and someone must have told him because it didn’t took him long to show up.

“I see you came to your senses, Audrey,” he smiled open and honest. Nathan always admired his talent of acting. He was good, very good. But William wouldn’t fool him, never again.

“I came to make a deal.” Audrey walked closer to William and Duke and Nathan remained on the same spot, just one step behind her. There if she needed them.

“I already said what I want from you.” He stopped when he stood right in front of her. “I want you! I want to have a place to live. That is all.”

“Why?” Audrey just asked. “I am not Mara. I’m nothing like her. What do you want with me?”

Nathan had to restrain himself when he saw how William took one of Audrey’s strands and tucked it behind her ear. “You are more like Mara than you think. I just don’t want to be alone.”

“There are better ways than that. You can actually help these people and we will leave you in peace. You can stay here if you want, travel the world. We won’t hunt you.”

“But,” William sighed audible. “This is boring. Doing something out of the goodness of my heart? I don’t have goodness in it. I thought you would know by now.”

“You helped me get home,” Nathan said. “You could have killed me but you let me go.” Nathan didn’t think that William was pure goodness but there were parts in him that could show compassion or empathy. They just had to find it.

“Don’t think I did this for you, Nathan.”

“Why then?” Audrey asked; her voice was still calm.

“To protect my home. Croatoan was a threat to it. And Nathan had the chance of destroying him.”

“You want to go back home?”

William grabbed her, and pulled her closer. His fingers dug into her skin and Nathan draw his gun, pointing it right at William. “Let her go,” he warned.

“We can help you get home,” Audrey just went on as if nothing happened at all.

William just huffed, rolled his eyes. “I tried,” he hissed, angry, frustrated. Nathan almost felt sorry for him, but only almost.

“How do these rings work? How can we find our way through the void with them?” Audrey just kept talking and Nathan wanted to trust her, and he did, but he was still worried, still on edge because William had her in her grasp. He wanted to shoot but he knew he couldn’t. They tested if Audrey and William were connected and this bond was still there. He couldn’t do anything without hurting Audrey as well. “You don’t have to live the rest of your life with anger inside of you. You can go home, be happy, and start something new.”

“I don’t think so. It sounds really appealing to me. This whole revenge stuff is a lot of fun. Looking in your eyes, and see how broken you are. How some few twisted words can split this glorious town in half. It’s nice to have power like that. Why should I give this up?”

“Because you want to go home.” Audrey laid a hand on William’s chest and Nathan stiffened. “I found my home here, with Nathan and Duke, in this town. This is not the place for you, William. We can help you.”

“I can open Thinnies,” Duke added. “I can send you back into the void and from there on you can make your way back into your own world.”

“The ring didn’t work the last time. It send me here, closed the Thinny behind me even.”

“Charlotte told me they work through emotions, right? You have to think of the place that you want to go? You had James with you, William. He wished to be home and maybe in this moment the ring was just confused, not sure where to go. He followed James’ wish and brought you back to this world. You can try again.”

For the first time William seemed speechless and he actually looked like he would consider Audrey’s words. Nathan lowered his gun the second William’s grip loosened a bit. “So you can send me home?”

Audrey smiled. “We can try.”

“One condition though,” Duke interrupted. “I only open a Thinny for you if you leave the aether behind. Without that, good luck with finding an open Thinny on your own.”

“This here?” William took out a little black box. “I don’t need it anyway. But do you think you can actually do this, Audrey? You failed before.”

Audrey looked back to Nathan and he smiled. This had been another time, a time that seemed so long ago. Audrey had grown, was even stronger now. When Audrey thought that she could do it, Nathan would believe in her. “She can,” Nathan answered for her, a little louder so that the people, who gathered around them, heard it as well.

“Okay, then, what do I have to lose, right?” William seemed as if he was agreeing to their offer. “I can still come back and get my revenge if it shouldn’t work.”

And there the old William was again. Now they only had to hope that it would work so that he would never return.

William stepped away from Audrey and gave her the little box. “Come on, Crocker, do your magic.”

“Still would have preferred to have shot him in the face,” Duke grumbled quietly into Nathan’s ear when he stepped forward, took Audrey’s ring from her and held it cautiously between his index finger and thumb. “You’re ready?”

William just nodded, seemed a little impatient even.

Duke didn’t wait any longer, just opened the Thinny in the middle of the road. William stepped in front of it, hesitated.

“Good luck,” Audrey said and William actually smiled before leaving through the Thinny. The second he was gone Duke closed the bridge so that William couldn’t come back.

It was quiet for a moment before Audrey fell into his arms, laughing happily into his ear. “We did it,” she said with a smile on her face. “We actually did it.”

“Yeah.” Nathan put his arms around her and lifted her up a little. He was just so happy. William was gone, they had aether to help everyone, and they were all still alive and well.

“Guys, I’m so sorry to interrupt but we have bystanders and-” Duke pointed around them where the people had come nearer. Nathan let Audrey out of her grip.

“So you can help us now?” One of them asked.

Audrey nodded. “I can and I will. We will meet up with Dwight and make an order so that everyone will know when it’s their turn, okay? I can’t do any of you at the same time I’m afraid but I promise you that no one will be overlooked and that everyone will have the chance of a better life.”

The townsfolk seemed satisfied with that, mumbled gratitude and went back to their homes.

“They didn’t even apologize,” Duke said a little bitter. “They should have-”

“Hey, Duke,” Audrey stopped him from talking by taking his hand. “It’s okay. They have been through so much. I understand.”

Duke sighed nevertheless but kept quiet.

“So you think you can actually do this?” Nathan asked again although he had no doubt. He just wanted to make sure that Audrey was okay with this and not completely overwhelmed.

“Yes.” She nodded, her voice strong. “But I think I should start with a Trouble I know very well, just for practice.” She opened the box, took one of the little black balls in her hand, and closed her hand into a fist. After opening it again her palm was completely black. “May I?” she asked and looked right into Nathan’s eyes.

Completely surprised Nathan needed a moment to react. “Of course, sure,” he answered and unbuttoned his shirt. “I trust you.”

Audrey had touched him so many times but her hand on his chest felt so different now. He didn’t feel changed at all or anything, it was just different. It was no touch of comfort or love, Audrey was concentrated, focused. It had a whole different meaning.

Nathan took a deep breath when she pulled her hand away. He couldn’t test it with Audrey. He had always been able to feel her so his eyes wandered over to Duke. He reached out his arm, waited for Duke to come closer and take his hand. Carefully Duke approached and laid his hand on Nathan’s arm.

The sensation was sudden, let a shiver ran through his entire body. Immediately he smiled. “I can feel you,” were the only words he spoke before he stepped closer, let his hand wander over Duke’s arm, up to his shoulder. “I can feel you,” he repeated before pulling him into a tight embrace.

How long had he wished to be able to feel Duke again, to feel his heartbeat against his own chest, just to feel the warmth of his body? He buried his face against Duke’s neck, closed his eyes and just _felt_ him.

A third hand on his back told Nathan that Audrey had joined them and Nathan couldn’t be happier. He put one arm around her and pulled her closer.

He had the two people in arms that meant the world to him and he felt their touch and warmth against his skin.

He knew that this was real now!


End file.
